stock. american airlines group, the stock is at 24.93, a gain of 98 cents, 4% jump on the debut of this new symbol for american. we'll have much more in a moment for you. second, look at the went weather that is blasting most of the united states, having a huge impact on air travel. about 4500 flights have been canceled nationwide over the last 48 hours, some due to heavy snow in parts of this country. but in dallas freezing fog is to blame, especially out of dfw, that airport having a lot of problems today. despite the cancellations and delays, take a look at the major carriers, stocks holding up rather well. alaska, delta, southwest, jetblue and spirit, all of these names for you are rising. big day for the airline industry. okay, so back on the ground there are some other big stock stories as well. and be nicole petallides is standing by on the floor of the new york stock exchange. earlier you said it's merger monday. it is a busy merger monday today.

>> reporter: it's true, we have a couple big stories, also we're keeping an eye on ruby tuesday and abercrombie & fitch. ruby tuesday getting a huge pop today, so it's up about 6%, $7.23 a share. this is on reports that they are working with goldman sachs to consider some strategic options. so that was reported by debt wire, and we'll continue to follow that. of maybe a big change could be coming for ruby tuesday, some people are betting exactly that. and then there's abercrombie & fitch, a story we have followed all year long. they've been under pressure. the ceo has been criticized for some of his comments and also the performance of the company overall. right now it's down 25%. ceo mike jeffreys getting his contract resigned, it was due to expire in february, but now he gets another year onboard. but at this time it would be a more simple contract, a contract that will be more based with incentives on the performance of the company. so a more closely tied to the

company's performance overall, so that's good news for shareholders. you did have engage capital very voc saying he should be out -- vocal saying he should be out, he's a roadblock, he's been there since 1992, but nobody listens. and right now you see it's to the downside. cheryl: and just in time to sign your contract in the middle of the holiday shopping season. all right, investors are anxiously waiting for the fed's taper to begin perhaps next week. stocks though continuing to climb today, in fact. let's get right to our floor show, traders at the new york stock exchange, the cme group and, of course, the nymex. mark newton on the floor of the new york stock exchange, it's all about the fed talk today. looking at these comments from jeffrey lacker, and, you know, not a voting member certainly, but at the same time he said, basically, that he opposed any qe. let's take that down to the floor of the new york stock exchange. are we going to hear more of this rhetoric, do you think, and is a december taper possible, mark? [laughter] >> everybody's got different opinions. it's going to happen in

december, january or potentially march, and it's tough. we know this, at least there's going to be discussion aboot the taper, i think, as of next week. the data does seem to be getting stronger. there are certain holes regarding inventory concerns, lack of consumer demand, but the bottom line is the economy's slowly but surely growing stronger. s&p is now set to join the nasdaq at new highs above november, we know that in the month of december going back over the last 60 years that a move to new highs in the s&p, the next 10, 20 and 30 days forward typically has been positive. so that's interesting. but, yeah, continue to be real signs of resilience, you know, despite the fact there areling oring concerns regarding momentum -- lingering concerns ahead of the holiday, but stocks respect paying attention. we continue to hit new highs, and the market right now has been resilient. cheryl: i want to go to garrett at the cme because, certainly, with the dow and s&p we did break a fife-day -- five-day losing streak, but we've seen a

lot more volatility in the vixx. and you have to wonder as we go towards the end of the year if we're going to have a little more volatility as volume gets lower. do you take that seriously, gary? do you really watch the tape as we get closer to the end of the year? >> well, of course you do. when you look at the volatility levels we've had, now we're finally starting to see it pick up. again, volume has been so light throughout this whole year of trading, and now we're seeing it even less and less now. coming into that big holiday stretch here, and people are really pulling back, and there's still so much uncertainty regarding this taper whether it is, like your prior guest said, you know, is it later on next week, january, march? so the few people that are in there right now, we're seeing some more and more volatility. take a look at friday's gold numbers. when they did the employment numbers. i mean, gold shot out a $30 range within about ten minutes, and it's because of low volume, but it brought the volatility levels up.

cheryl: you know, one thing that you said i want to kind of pick up on, you said as you go through the end of the year, you're talking about low volume for the year, gary, for stocks. and here's the disconnect, big outflows out of bonds over the last three months in particular. but equity inflows in october to, for instance, 34, 35 billion not really a big number compared to september. where's the money going, gary? >> well, everybody's sitting on the sidelines. again, everybody's waiting to see about this taper. i mean, they're tired of hearing about it. but they're sitting on the sidelines. there's a lot of uncertainty regarding the indices right now. why are they so high, and it's keeping a lot of retail people out of the markets right now. so we're seeing lower and lower volume levels, and let's just hope that after the first of the year we see this pick up. cheryl: i want to go down to the nymex. you know, mahir, oil, even when the jobs numbers came out, still a lot of volatility in oil. and that big shoot-up last week, a lot of rhetoric coming in

particular out of the saudis and opec. they met in vienna, they've talked about production levels, now you've got iran involved in production. do you think thefy mention can hold in this -- the nymex can hold in this $97 range between now and the end of the yearsome. >> i would imagine. i think we're going to stay kind of status quo. as kind of the two gentlemen before me aforementioned, right now it's all about fed, and it's about stocks. that is where the interest is. you have seen a rotation out, a money flow out of the commodity market and into the equity market. though the volume is light, you're seeing money just flow out of here. you're seeing shorts, record shorts here in gold and silver, and it's because the dollar is doing well, bond yields are increasing. there are just attractive assets -- cheryl: but here's the thing, and, you know, we can't predict when the taper's going to be, we know it's coming. at this point in time when we start to get a pullback, you'll

probably see the dollar begin to weaken just a little bit. potentially. what would that do the oil markets? i'm assuming that would be a bullish sign for the oil markets. of course, that's not the way things work anymore from what i've learned in the last 12 months of trading. >> that is true, but it should theoretically provide a stronger oil market, a stronger precious metals market, you should see a lift in the commodities market in general across the board. cheryl: all right. everything you learned ten years ago in school about trading or twenty years ago, throw it out. doesn't matter anymore. thank you very much. appreciate it. good to have you on this monday. well, we were talking about it, the taper. taper or not, it is now less than a month away from the beginning of the new year, so what are economists forecasting for 2014? peter wanter is joining us -- barnes is joining us from washington. we start to get the next year's forecasts this time of year because half of them are going to be wrong, peter. >> reporter: that's right, cheryl. and this time it's the national association for business economics' turn. it's updating its survey of its

members for the 2014 economy. it sees the unemployment rate remaining, averaging, rather, about 7% for the full year next year unchanged from where it is now. it sees non-farm payrolls rising a bit from the current monthly pace to about 200,000 jobs a month on average next year. it also sees the s&p 500 finishing next year, next december 31st at 1850. that's just a 2% rise from its current level, right? and navy members see the fed starting to taper in the first half of 2014 helping to send the ten-year treasury up to 3.25% up from about 2.85% today. but how much confidence can we have in this forecast? well, they've gotten some numbers right and some numbers wrong in the past, and the members are all over the map with the outlook for economic growth with an average of 3% gdp

growth for next year, an average of all the members, but with a range of 1.9% to 4%. and the group predicts the unemployment rate will average 7% next year, as i just said, when it hit 7% last month in part due to fluctuations in the number of people in the work force. >> i think the unemployment rate is hard to forecast at this point because of the participation rate and because, i mean, who would have thought that it would have gone from 7.3 to 7 this last time, for instance. >> reporter: leaders say that on the range of the gdp forecasts at least the lowest growth projection is about 2% which was the median forecast last year. so potentially upside surprises, cheryl. cheryl: i just say though, peter, to still see economists saying we're going to be at 7% unemployment, you've got to wonder if the market's ahead of themselves, and that's a question for our market guys today. i mean, if we're up 7% for next

year, we're still in trouble. and you've got to wonder if the market's ahead of itself. it's hard to say. >> reporter: but, you know, the unemployment rate has been bouncing around here, and it could bounce back up. cheryl: oh, gosh. peter barnes live out of washington. stay on these reports for me. thank you, peter. closing bell going to ring, we've got 50 minutes to go. how should investors position themselves for the new year? we're going to talk to a money manager who is bullish for 2014. she's got some specific stock picks you don't, don't want to miss these questions, or these stocks, excuse me. and up in the air, the world's largest airline finally taking flight after the merger of american airlines and us airways, but will the stock take off as well? big question. we've got your playbook coming up next. ♪ ♪ hi honey, did you get e toaster cozy?

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♪ muck. cheryl: the power mover of the day the is bitcoin. the boom and bust cycle of the digital currency continues. bitcoin rallied to over $1,240 last week invoking bubble fears at time, but then it plummeted 50% over the weekend after news that china's central bank was banning the virtual currency. today bitcoin is back up,

hovering around $915. meantime, bank of america says bitcoin's, quote, high volatility is hinterring its general acceptance as a means of payment for e-commerce. but it has a clear potential for growth, so we shall see where this rollee coaster goes next. fun to watch, though, look at that chart. well, the new american airlines group was born today, and this combination is the biggest merger in the airline industry's history. but it was a bumpy ride for the company. the $18 billion all-stock merger received a lot of pushback from the doj which surprised a lot of people including american airlines' group ceo doug parker. i spoke with him earlier today. here's what he had to say. >> we were surprised by the lawsuit, but the reality is once -- we were surprised because we thought they were wrong. but as we got further into it and there was discovery ofand tc outcry, i think doj came to the conclusion that we were closer to right than they were.

cheryl: now that the doj jitters are a thing of the past, how will the merger impact the airline industry as a whole? joining me now with her take is an airlines analyst. i'll tell you what, savi, the doj really came down on parker and the group harder than they've ever done before, but this is the third biggest merger that we've had in the last six years. this consol case over-- consolidation overall, do you think it's a good thing for the industry, what we've seen? >> it's very positive. and you know what it does is, it gives american and us airways a formidable network to really compete with delta and united, but it also means that they're not going to add a lot of supply to grow that network on their own. and so it keeps the capacity, the discipline in the industry in play, and most of these airlines, especially larger airlines, they're using the discipline to push through fare increases when there are rises in cost and maintain profitability. we should see an industry that's

profitable through a business cycle now whereas historically one that's made losses, and this is going to help them improve their balance sheet and invest in the business and be positive for consumers as well as the airlines. cheryl: one of the biggest profit drivers for these companies has been the extra fees that they have added on to the consumer; baggage fees, food fees, you know, changing a flight used to be $30, now it's $100. do the airlines, is it a concern for you that they could reach a breaking point with the consumer where they begin to alienate the domestic traveler, the leisure traveler? not the business traveler, but the leisure traveler. are they going to go too far? >> you know, and what they're truly trying to do is match the cost to the revenue. in the past, all of the costs that are associated with providing a service has been bundled into the fare. and consumers have been very varying in how they're willing to pay up for that. now what they're trying to do is unbundle and let yo decide whether you want to pay up for a service or not. so i think consumers are

starting to accept it. it's always hard to take back something that was free before, but it's positive for the industry, and you see it in the profitability. cheryl: and you know, something doug parker said to me today, i asked if there was a particular market, and i was thinking a domestic market, but he maybe would tell me that was underserved, he said, you know what? the u.s. is saturated, international is where we see opportunity. do you think it's possible we could see some global tie-ups, more so than what we have seen over the last five years, and do you think that that is good for the three that trade publicly, of course, and that those international operations? does that make the stock more attractive to you? >> you know, a global tie-up as far as the merger goes through will be difficult because you're going to need to get past some rules of ownership. but in the meantime, they could do more delta or united do across the atlantic, and that's really helped adjust capacity across the atlantic and make that a more profitable business as well. again, near term is probably going to be more in the form of

joint ventures and longer term as ownership rules get relaxed, maybe we'll see more consolidation. cheryl: you just never know. well, it certainly has made international travel a lot easier. savi, thank you very much. >> thanks, cheryl. cheryl: all right. closing bell, 41 minutes, that's it. much of the to nation is digging out -- of the nation is digging out after a massive snow and ice storm, and more wicketly weather is on the way. how much of a hit did the nation's retailers take during the vital shopping weekend? we're going to assess the retail damage. and billionaire hank greenberg could be on the brink of firing one of this country's most famous trial lawyers. who else but charlie gasparino has exclusive details? he's going to tell us why there's such bad blood between these two guys. ♪ ♪ ♪

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cheryl: well, we're following up what wd on friday as far as the market goes because we had five days of losses, and then friday the dow gained almost 200 points. now today we're continuing,

nothing is being lost. the dow higher by 15 points, still above that 16,000 mark. nasdaq and the s&p are higher. russell 2000 a little bit to the downside. well, a source close to hank greenberg says he is less than pleased with comments his attorney, david david boies, recently made to fox business. charlie gasparino is here with exclusive details. >> it's possible he's going to fire david boies, i hear that's a distinct possibility. he might not fire him from all the cases, but he represents three things, an aig case -- excuse me be, a case against greenberg versus schneiderman, i think there's a defamation case, keep him on that big aig case. david elenhorn, assistant new york attorney, boies gave him a free plane ride a couple years ago after a deposition. mr. elenhorn never repaid for that plane ride.

mr. green berg says he violated the law. mr. boies says he didn't violate the law. you have the client and the lawyer disagreeing with each other in a story on foxbusiness.com. you can read about it, i posted it on sunday, and it represents one of those odd occasions when both the lawyer for a guy and the guy he's representing disagree on an important subject. i mean, here's the thing, mr. elenhorn's a new york attorney general. he's the guy leading the case against hank greenberg. okay, he hitched a ride with david boies on david's private plane. and he never repaid that money. david boies gave a comment to fox business saying that's okay, i don't care. mr. greenberg and other lawyers that that work for mr. greenberg went back and researched the subject, found that they believe mr. elenhorn violated the new york ethics law, you're not supposed to take freebie trips from lawyers that you're, you know, fighting in court. cheryl: and greenberg saw the

fox business story -- >> oh, yeah. cheryl: and he went, wait a minute, not so fast. >> what is this guy sayinn? cheryl: that's interesting. >> here's the thing, david boies, as you know, is one of the most prominent lawyers in america, maybe the world. hank green egger, one of -- greenberg, one of the most prominent businessmen. we don't know the outcome of this feud, but within the next 24 hours we will know, and it'll be a fairly significant story. i've never seen anything like this before where a top lawyer -- now, you have to realize that boies makes a lot of money from representing greenberg, but bo to ies is a prominent democrat, and the new york attorney general who this assistant new york attorney, david elenhorn works for is a democrat. so there may be some party ties here. cheryl: the hardest thing about firing your lawyer is what if you're in the middle of something? >> oh -- cheryl: or in the middle of ten things right now. >> three major cases. there's the big case against aig

that they ripped off the taxpayers with the government bailout, there's the separate case involving schneiderman v. greenberg be, a holdover from the initial suit filed by eliot spitzer when hank was the ceo of aig on accounting fraud, and then there's the suit that hank filed against eliot spitzer involving libel. all three of those boies works on. i think the latter two are the two that he'll take him off of, particularly the schneiderman case. maybe he'll keep him on the bigger case because it's more of a class action, but this is clearly coming to a head, and it's going to be an interesting story. i really don't think when david sent this e-mail to fox business last night that basically said mr. elenhorn did not violate any laws, he thinks everything's okay, you can see the exact wording on foxbusiness.com, i don't think hank knew about that statement. laugh and i think what they're worried about is that david, and, you know, we still have calls out to david boies, that

david issued that statement sort of in conjunction with working with the new york attorney general's office which, as you know, is a bitter enemy of hank. so this is getting pretty -- i mean, it's wild. cheryl: a little dirty. >> it's a little convoluted, but it's one of the things we do. we try to give you, the viewer, a sort of insight on what goes on behind the scenes and this is an interesting thing where rich people and prominent lawyers. david boies represented al gore, okay? in bush v. gore. he is one of the best and the brightest before in a courtroom. cheryl: he'll be okay even if greenberg fires him. he'll be okay. >> it's a lot of money, let me tell you. cheryl: that's a great story. >> watch us, we'll keep you abreast. cheryl: watch fox business and go to foxbusiness.com and you, too, will get the inside scoop from charlie. thank you very much. closing bell going to ring, we've got 32 minutes to go right now. southwest airlines is up over 30% since the month of june. it's now among the top four

biggest airlines in the nation. we're going to ask our stock picker whattshe thinks of the latest mega airline to join the fight for customers and profits. and the weather outside is frightful, does that mean that holiday shopping is less than delightful? we're going to ask our panel of experts how the wintry blast might hurt retailers' bottom lines. good question. ♪ ♪ every day we're working to be an even better coany -

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♪ cheryl: i love of wheeling and dealing on this monday. nicole petallides at the new york stock the stands watching today's action. in this now from our senior editor kentucky about pointing out the narrow trading range that we have today, and this is

that there was one day trading links we have seen in 16 months dividend is a good sign that we have a solid market that is not. >> reporter: well, a good sign for the bulls would be the fact we gained about 200 points on friday and managed to hold on to those gains. right now of seven points, but absolutely a narrow trading range. a day of mergers. merger monday. want to tell you, in the food-service business we are looking at cisco. they are acquiring a fellow food services and -- fell a few -- fellow food service distributor. together combined companies could bring in about $55 billion in sales in would be based in houston. we are seeing is the value of the deal is about three and a half billion plus debt on top of that. we are seeing obviously the stock of cisco has been moving exponentially to the upside. another memo watching closely is blackstone because of the allied

ipo. it's actually moving ahead by one day due to the demand from investors. the trading on wednesday. no, the range is anticipated to be between 18 and $21. he will see that actually happens, but with that range it is roughly raised about two and a half billion dollars. paying down debt and get out of other states. it is something to watch. as you noted, right now we are fractionally holding on to gains at the moment. cheryl: nice to see that we're holding on to what we have on friday. thank you so much. it is a bull market. you can definitely call it that. how long will this last? one money manager uses this could last for years, even so perhaps time to invest in money outside of the u.s. could your be the best place to make joining me now, south texas money management ceo and chief

investment officer. thrilled not to be in texas right now in the menlo winter storm. this really nice market, but i want to point out, you're looking overseas and the likely easy. that is the next big place to invest.3 >> absolutely. we feel that things in europe have at least stabilized. seeing some good indicators there. of course that is geared for a lot of u.s. companies actually. cheryl: that do business over there. >> that do business over there. a global economic stability, it is important that europe is stabilized. and so there will be coming off of the low base. europe in 14 and 15 we think will be like the united states was in 2009 and 2010, companies will get really good earnings leverage because you're coming off a low base. so we think that the earnings visibility is good. cheryl: as a whole. one our viewers, ets and indexes, especially, try and pick a european stock.

my appeal little bit of a challenge, but do you think that they will get the double-digit returns and maybe the u.s. next year walt? >> that is certainly possible. i mean, we are very bullish. we think that the u.s. market literally has years to run in the cycle. but yes. earnings visibility could be better. cheryl: i want to talk about your strategy. is ahead strategy. so much more popular of the last couple of years. that basically you look to buy devalues stocks and then growth stocks together. and you say -- you call it the ugly baby strategy. >> that's right. value stocks are very of the babies. some of our best trades have been deadliest and actually. completely different kinds of companies. cheryl: two is the ugly baby? >> right now i guess ford is probably -- and that -- for is trading at less than six times

cash flow even though there has been, good earnings improvement, pent-up demand for autos. even for will have good -- cheryl: what you're saying basically is a four is an avid baby, but as it gets a little bit older and it's going to get better looking. that's where your telling me. >> that's right. we have 20% upside on ford, and it's a conservative play. cheryl: well, it's up 34%. on with liz last week showing as the new mustang. talk about someone who is excited about this company. also, you like swatch. a watchmaker. when of the biggest names globally. >> absolutely. we are buying a br. is the world's largest manufacturer and distributor of watches, and they have all segments of the watch, you know, watch market. they just acquired harry winston, which is a very high

end watch company. so, i mean, they are dominant. we feel that it really is growth company from. unlike the ugly baby, swatch is a growth company with 26% earnings growth last year, 14% revenue growth. it also plays into our european outlook. cheryl: interesting. you were back on the show june june 4th. at the time he likes of -- southwest. has had a nice run-up. now you're looking more at what was u.s. airways and is now american airlines group. what to you make of the performance? the stock is up today. it has been a good day. >> very much. we have been overweighted all year. we like that sector. i think that business has become much more sophisticated, less risky. less cyclical, actually. better at hedging tool, but right now we have been putting money in u.s. airway. >> caller: now we're going to continue.

cheryl: the debt holders of americans. the stock was nothing she did the study since. >> i think american airlines, and the experience, absolutely the right things. we get 50% upside in american. the new airline, we get 50% upside. it is a bit of a risky play, my fire because they have a lot of debt, but we think it will work. cheryl: well, thank you very much. good luck getting of new york city and heading back to texas. good to have you in the studio. well, it has just been one year, one year after the sandy hook school massacre in connecticut for. cerberus capital management as a new plan to allow some investors to get out of its weapons business freedom group. rita mae the bushmaster rifle used in the shooting that killed 20 children and six adults one year ago.

and the day -- in the days following the massacre they announced plans to sell the company outright, but the firm failed to get an acceptably offer. according to sources familiar with the matter, there is a new plan to allow some of the existing investors to back out of the maker. it is possible there will still try to sell freedom as a complete unit. we will keep you posted. we have 19 minutes to go until the bell rings. just as retailers tried to pump up holiday sales, much of the nation now waxed by huge winter storms. can the retailing industry make up for lost ground as we head toward christmas? we will spread all of you coming up next. ♪ tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 trading inspires your life.

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cheryl: well, we are watching these markets. fifteen minutes away from that bell ringing down at the corner of wall and broad, you can see endow that has pulled back. i just want to point out, 16,058 was a session high. you know, i tight trading range of we were talking a lot earlier. the tightest one day trading range in about 16 months. it is nice to see. a confident market to be nothing has traders and investors -- investors worried. having said that to my want to see the bigger numbers. holding on to big gains. nasdaq in the s&p teetering puree will keep you posted with 14 minutes to go into the bell rings. just over two weeks left to give christmas shopping done. will the weekend winter storm barry retailers' margins? joining me now, gabriela, by bush managing director. frederick fox ceo and co-founder

i want to start with you because you have a team of people across this country that were heading to malls. what did they see? >> correct. well, in dallas my person who goes was unable to get out, without power. the ice storm shut down a lot of the residence, and then also a lot of the retailers are not able to operate because of the power outages. so that is going to affect a good portion of texas, arkansas, oklahoma, obviously moving east. we see that as impact the sales. it is strategically read it the weekend. cheryl: of course. so this is a big problem for retailers. you know, to your point, which you made earlier, to the selling season. the pressure is on because thanksgiving his late. in gabrielle agrees with you, which i hate, but go ahead. >> yes. so we have 26 days total, the shortest in seven years. we have 15 days left command we

have six days left until december 15th. that is recover from line sales to be made when you get everything shipped. so if this was the only storm it would not be a big deal is everything really will shift. will we see is whole series of storms coming of the next week that a going to hit the center as well as the northeast, and that is going to limit traffic. cheryl: but gabrielle it, devil's advocate would say no one is going to not buy gifts for their children for christmas no one is going to cheat the espousal of one out of presence on the tree. have you respond to that? >> well, then you look at it shifting to online. if the weather is preventing the consumer from going to the mall, maybe they will focus on line. however, you might run into a situation where the weather will affect shipping as well. if you're going to do that you probably should get on it right now.

cheryl: but have to say, the regional sector was actually higher today despite will resolve the weekend which was a bit of a surprise to me. >> yes. there's definitely a disconnect which ran with the consumer is doing and what is going on with retail. cheryl: that's why we have people like you on the show. obviously this is make or break a time. there are certain companies like j.c. penney, even abercrombie, this is crucial. is to make a break the business has all the abilities say about the names of 30 during? >> absolutely. no, you need to recall that last year, the first two weeks or very mild and very quiet. so this year you have cold, wet weather which is a polar opposite. amelie we think is going to happen to firms like j.c. penney's is there going to have a fairly strong season when it comes to a soft lines and other seasonal items.

that will be way above what sold last year just because it's a lot colder and a lot more weight. cheryl: get reelected me make this point as well. you say that because we had two years in nice weather and then is this year has become so chilly. >> and with this call whether you have to look at consumers replenishing. so for two years there were not buying the classic. now the reason -- a lot of replenishment and also a fashion as well. so we are sort of hitting that cross-section our customers are interested in it from a fashion perspective. as a double list at there's lots of. cheryl: you know, as elected the next couple of weeks, the thing that there is anything that could be a surprise? don't tell me it's another storm. >> well, yes. a lot more storms, but i think really the bigger story is going to be the when it comes to a seasonal items such as any type

of police, sweaters, gloves, snow stuff, we are seeing that they are up over 30, 40 percent over last year just based on whether from just the analytically. cheryl: and started jumping, but that is the concern. we saw some much promotional activity going into this holiday. things giving starts in september and christmas starts in october. those items already discounted? other retailers going to miss that profit trevor? >> well, they certainly are off, but when we look at, some last year, a lot of the staff did not even sell. there were sold after the holiday for 75 percent off. other probably 30 percent off. we're going to see is it will be a lot more cash. for a group like j.c. penney's i mean this is just a perfect storm. they're going to sell more, and

it's going to bring hard cash into the business. cheryl: that is a positive sign. as a bullish sign for the retailers. the maid that investors see as year-over-year comparisons they're going to make a good call on the stocks. >> correct. and you look at the retailers that have positioned well coming .nto the season, the heavyweight they are ready to promote. presumably you build a margin into the product as well says his bill to brought. cheryl: what about electronics? last year that was the story. >> correct. cheryl: what about this year? >> this year is interesting. a lot of things. technology releases' the money game, so release in november, so it is really where consumers going to put their money. so presumably if this been done again council which at the end of the days was 600, they know how lot less for apparel. cheryl: even somebody like a best buy, half of the northeast is covered in snow, they can actually be a one this holiday

season as well. that is an interesting point. glass box. do you think that at the end of the day we're going to see a better selling season and we did last year? this is the first time for me in recent memory and we really don't know what the consumer is going to do. >> yeah, you know, we think that the seasonal items are going to be up anywhere from 2230 percent over last year. that does not mean there will be an overall grade selling season because you have a lot of other, more expensive items that right now are not selling as well. but at least to the seasonal items, which is really a cash cow for these retailers, and is almost like a big tobacco crop. they will have a very strong season. cheryl: last word, and surprises? >> you know, i still think now you have to make the plan, the seasonal merchandise. i think that is where we're looking. margins may be heard, but at the

end of the day is just driving through the inventory. cheryl: of the call. let me tell you, living in new york, they sound great. you're on to something. thank you very much. stay warm. appreciated. closing bell will ring in six minutes. and we have your big tech mover and shaker of the day. in just a moment we will tell you why twitter is flying up and away today. look at that. 10%. we will be right back. ♪ you make a great team. it's been that way but your erectile dysfunction -

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cheryl: well, as we are just two minutes away from that bell ringing at the corner of wall and broad, look at the dow. we have one in negative territory. this is a small dip. we're down about one point 1/2 right now. again, there is as we go into the first trading day of a new week, as we get closer and closer to the end of the we are we had kind of a tight trading range which is nice to see. i'm joined by david asman actually. david: you mentioned my name. dow went into positive territory. just a coincidence. everything is really waiting what will happen with the fed. today we had a couple of fed presidents including richard fisher, long time been for tapering of their qe policy saying once again that should happen. so a lot of focus on the fed. by the way we'll focus on the fed with jon hilsenrath coming up from "the wall street journal." let's find out what is

happening with nicole petallides.% i believe she is watching events take place at the nyse down there apple, let's focus on apple for a second. i'm a shareholder. a lot of shareholders out there, and they like this slow steady march back to 600 by apple. >> absolutely right, slow, steady march. this was a loser much of the year. last three months we saw apple jumping 12 1/2%. the latest deal with china mobile taking apple orders. they bottom overweight rating from piper jaffray. saying inventory looks good for the holiday season of the at love people on wall street say you don't short apple in the fourth quarter. cheryl: especially the holidays. general motors, nicole, pushing further above $40 a share, hitting new all-time high. what is going on with the stock? >> new high for gm, 40.17. the treasury wants to get rid of rest of their stake and moving some of their call centers back to the u.s. david: restaurant stocks are

hitting all-time highs. [closing bell ringing] >> domino's pizza and papa john's. all new highs. cheryl: another stock we're watching as the bells ring on this monday. the dow, really talk about that before we get to twitter. dow and s&p and nasdaq eking a gain. we're in the green, david. david: again, it was a lot of, get the feeling, cheryl we're on kind after pause until what happens. whether that lasts whole week we're not sure. there would be other events that transpire that affect it. at least for now, as you know the fed is about to enter its cone of silence they go into until the meeting. they start that tomorrow. a couple of fed presidents getting their last licks in before that happens. again the market is waiting on what happens. cheryl: three of them. david: let's get you into your front page headlines before we go any further. we have a fascinating day including jon hilsenrath. first us airways officially completed their merger with new york carri